Shopping on-line. Are you increasing your purchases?

Biggins

Shopping on-line. Are you increasing your purchases?

I read in The Times (England) this morning that a number of big retailers* are taking further drastic cutbacks. Even Argos has reported a 20% drop in some areas.

So I was wondering, even though things are bad economy-wise, those with money still to spend, are ye going on-line more so these days to buy your items or are you still trying to stay loyal to local shops?

POLL ADDED - Multiple choice

I try to buy local myself but in price comparison, I find locally the price differences are oft times shocking.
I can understand the level of overheads that some shops in my streets face - but still, there is still the occasions where I feel that some shops locally are still taking the pee in regards pricing.

---

* HMV (and Waterstones which they own), Game (cutting between 70 and 150 shops) as well as others mentioned in the report. For example:

Last week 30 Habitat shops — the chain started by Sir Terence Conran in 1964 — were put into administration and Homeform, the owner of Dolphin Bathrooms and Moben Kitchens, collapsed. The two failures could put 3,700 people out of work.

HMV, the beleaguered music retail giant, is in the process of closing 60 of its 285 stores in Britain and Ireland, but analysts expect many more to go. It is also on the cusp of selling 125 shops in Canada to Hilco, the restructuring firm.
HMV’s former bedfellow, Waterstone’s, is not thought to be safe either. The bookstore chain was sold to Alexander Mamut, the Russian billionaire, last month. He will take the keys for 296 shops shortly, at which point he will launch a review of the business.
Game, the computer games retailer, has also announced plans to reduce its number of stores in the UK and Ireland by 70 to 550, but shareholders believe it should close another 150.

Standard Toaster

Shups.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Bit of both. CDs and books onlien as it's hard to find them in English where I am. Rest of the stuff on a case by case basis as the dlevery costs tend to be a bit unpredictable.

Needler

No decreasing my purchases cause I'm after running out of money & there are no jobs around

Captain Chaos

Sure am. With my wages dropping and taxes and levies increasing year by year I'm going for the best deals possible. Which means buying from the UK and EU.

I can't afford to support our local shops and retailers.

Do what the UK government did, lower taxes and leave the VAT alone. Then people will keeps spending here. Our government, tax the people dry and increase the prices on essentail services.

Take Irish Rail, they want to increase fares to make up for the lack of people using their service because A: They are out of work and, B: services were cut back and reduced.

What business school did these guys go to at all.

krudler

Depends on whats out really, being a gamer most of what I buy comes out september-november and a smattering of releases earlier in the year, get a few bargains on zavvi.com on their monday sale every week alright, problem with me is I clear a chunk off my credit card then wind up putting it back on a few weeks later, blah

bitemybanger

There is no ressession online. I do a fair bit of shopping online but just for stuff that's waaaay overpriced here in the shops.
It's not always cheaper especially on EBay.

Tabnabs

Buying stuff online at lot more. Mainly from the UK as prices are far more competitive even when postage is taken into account. Prices can be better again from the continent but you are generally hammered with postage, especially from Germany.

phasers

I'd never buy in a real DVD or game shop, the prices are outrageous! I bought a Simpsons box set from play.com recently for 8 euro, the same one is over 20 in stores here.

Clothes too, the sterling exchange rate in shops here is horrendous. Even including postage you save money by buying online.

Then again, I haven't paid for music in about 5 years. Problem, music industry?

krudler

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Sure am. With my wages dropping and taxes and levies increasing year by year I'm going for the best deals possible. Which means buying from the UK and EU.

I can't afford to support our local shops and retailers.

Do what the UK government did, lower taxes and leave the VAT alone. Then people will keeps spending here. Our government, tax the people dry and increase the prices on essentail services.

Take Irish Rail, they want to increase fares to make up for the lack of people using their service because A: They are out of work and, B: services were cut back and reduced.

What business school did these guys go to at all.

irish rail are a joke, a one way ticket at off peak times from Limerick-Dublin bought on the site costs 11 euro with a 2 quid surcharge for a laser, a one way ticket in the train station? 30 quid. I went to get a train once and was told the price, said fcuk that, pulled out my phone and booked it online for almost a third of the cost instead and just walked over and collected the ticket out of the automated machine.

mikemac

Biggins wrote: »

are you still trying to stay loyal to local shops?

Absolutely not

In the past Charlie McCreevy dropped the VAT rate. It wasn't a large drop, just one percent but consumers saw no drops, the retailers pocketed it.
So the government put the VAT rate back up.

I buy a lot online, find it cheaper.
Mainly amazon. Or play.com which I believe is based in Jersey

Captain Chaos

phasers wrote: »

I'd never buy in a real DVD or game shop, the prices are outrageous! I bought a Simpsons box set from play.com recently for 8 euro, the same one is over 20 in stores here.

Clothes too, the sterling exchange rate in shops here is horrendous. Even including postage you save money by buying online.

Have you seen Play's exchange rate, they are worse than our government at robbing you. Do not use play.com unless even after the daylight robbery exchange rate you are still managing to make a saving.

Amazon is where the deals are at with free delivery on orders over £25. Buy in bulk and save, just make sure it's sold directly from Amazon for the free delivery.

7sr2z3fely84g5

Thing is,alot of people are flogging their stuff on ebay to pay off their debts so there can be some good as new stuff to be got.

Play has gone expensive so check out amazon first.

krudler

zavvi.com is much better than play these days, free delivery now too

Gran Hermano

My postman sees more of my purchases than any Irish retailer.

Kess73

I buy more online now than I do in local stores simply because of the difference in price.


I can clearly remember the moment I pretty much stopped buying any CDs, Blu ray, games etc in local stores.

Was back in 2008 when I went in HMV in Limerick to see if two blu rays were in stock.

One was priced at €29.99 and the other at over €30.


Amazon.co.uk had the same two blu rays for £5.99 and £9.99. So I ordered both from Amazon and added something else to bring the order to £25 so that the free postage to Ireland kicked in, and have not both anything like that locally since then.

phasers

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Have you seen Play's exchange rate, they are worse than our government at robbing you. Do not use play.com unless even after the daylight robbery exchange rate you are still managing to make a saving.

Amazon is where the deals are at with free delivery on orders over £25. Buy in bulk and save, just make sure it's sold directly from Amazon for the free delivery.

I never spend over a tenner online.

I always use HUKD and Boards too, I'd never buy anything without checking the prices in other places.

Blowfish

Biggins wrote: »

So I was wondering, even though things are bad economy-wise, those with money still to spend, are ye going on-line more so these days to buy your items or are you still trying to stay loyal to local shops?
...
I try to buy local myself but in price comparison, I find locally the price differences are oft times shocking.
I can understand the level of overheads that some shops in my streets face - but still, there is still the occasions where I feel that some shops locally are still taking the pee in regards pricing.

Indeed, given the above, why the hell would I want to be 'loyal' to local shops?

As far as I'm concerned, if they find they are losing out, they either need to adapt (find way to drop prices, go online, etc.) or die.

phasers

Good Lord, that poll!

LisaLee

The trick is to shop around. Compare prices and go for the best deal, be it online or shopping locally.

Sarn

I check prices on line first. If I find what I consider a good deal (or close enough) I'll pick it up in a bricks and mortar shop. Clothes and groceries are always bought locally. Generally though, I buy books, games, music and electronics online. I won't pay a huge premium locally when there are other significantly cheaper options online.

MagicMarker

Am I the only one who voted for every option?

ejmaztec

Gran Hermano wrote: »

My postman sees more of my purchases than any Irish retailer.

Do you invite him in for the daily parcel-opening ceremony so that you can have an in-depth discussion on the contents over tea and biccies?





:pac:

phasers

MagicMarker wrote: »

Am I the only one who voted for every option?

Nope

Biggins

phasers wrote: »

Good Lord, that poll!

I try to cover all the aspects!
(Still have probably missed a few at least.)

BASHIR

Not buying much these days but bought my train ticket online there recently and saved myself 13euro which was great, return trip just under 50 quid is damn expensive.

Biggins

I bought a ticket on-line recently for a fiver to take me to Galway (from Dublin).
Our main national bus company couldn't even come close to that price at the time (and I don't think since but could be wrong).

I can understand overheads, etc but generally as an average, don't such overheads apply to all business around? So why can other similar services even come near to others in the same line - instead of having massive price gaps?

Creature

I've been using Amazon for probably the last 4 or 5 years to buy any books, DVDs etc. Even with their p&p costs they still come out on top in prices and their delivery speeds have become very very good in the last few years. I used to use play.com but got tired of the 1-2 weeks wait. I sometimes get things the next morning from amazon now, and thats even with the cheapest delivery option :pac:

So I wouldn't say I'm increasing my purchases from online retailers, it's pretty much remained static for the last few years. IIRC I've only been in a bricks and mortar shop once this year and even then it was just to use a HMV voucher that was going to expire.

7sr2z3fely84g5

Have feeling this online revolution will have hard knock on effect in small country as ireland,only spenders will be tourists,young kids,elderly,i know local argos,xtra vision,record store are struggling..

Bens

Whenever I feel like buying something in a shop now I look it up on my phone on amazon or ebay.
I expect to be ripped off by a euro or two in Ireland, so if its only a euro or two more expensive i'll buy it. If not its ordered off the net.

So far this year ive bought about 40 items online and one from a shop after, comparing the prices.

So the rip-off is just too high.

Mr. Denton

Haven't bought a BD/CD/DVD/VideoGame/Book in a shop in about 10 years.

Son Of A Vidic

My only contribution to this thread will be merely to state that it contains the mother all polls. I had to lie down after reading it.

Biggins

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

My only contribution to this thread will be merely to state that it contains the mother all polls. I had to lie down after reading it.

LOL
Like "Breaking Bad" - No half measures!

raveni

I buy online a lot, of course I'd prefer to buy locally but when you're short of money and you can find something cheaper online which even when you include the delivery cost is still cheaper than the best price you can find in Ireland, there's just no contest.

J. Marston

I get all my dvds and most of my video-games on Amazon.
I get shoes from Amazon too. Way cheaper than getting them in Irish shops.

stimpson

Screw the local retailer. They were happy to screw us when times were good. I spend as much as I can online usually in the UK.

The exception is my local shop. Sliced pan and 2 litre of milk for 2.50. Beat that Amazon.

Biggins

stimpson wrote: »

...Sliced pan and 2 litre of milk for 2.50. Beat that Amazon.

They would if they had the dough!

DOH!

Ruu_Old

I can't recall the last time I bought anything offline (aside from grocery which is from Aldi). I get air miles when I buy things online from retailers I had already planned to buy from, really ads up. I am a coupon hound, rarely pay full retail for anything.

laugh

I have a pain inside my head after attempting to read the poll options.

Biggins

laugh wrote: »

I have a pain inside my head after attempting to read the poll options.

Well you got to... Laugh?

Aishae

i always booked flights online since it became possible (more or less) - it was always cheaper than what the travel agents quoted.

but other than that the only thing i bought online was a collectors set from the US several years ago.

until the last few years - now i always get glasses online (shops just charge too much - way - i can get a decent pair for 9 dollars online with lenses)
i shop around to see if i can get something cheaper (incl postage) online than in the shop - problem is that you cant really order much from the us now with customs.

i recently got some bits on amazon for travel - but it was stuff id have to trek all over dublin, to find here and there. i was having a lazy moment.

genie

I would buy a lot more online if my local postal 'service' wasn't so crap. The local 'shop' doesn't give a toss about their customers so I shop elsewhere.

Ally Dick

I never buy groceries online. I believe they always give you the product with the shortest best before date e.g. if I went to a supermarket, I would always reach for the milk with the longest best before date. You've no say when someone is picking it out for you